Now that the the US Treasury has released this “list of marked individuals” (and their families, relatives or associated corporate entities) for potential, unspecified, future sanction, who do you think will freak out most, the Eurasian Sovereignists or the Atlantic Integrationists?

What is absolutely certain is that this latest move by the US is, again, a dream come true for Putin and his supporters, especially right before the elections.

The Jaysh al-Nasr rebel group in Syria, part of the US-backed Free Syrian Army, has posted footage of its fighters celebrating the shoot-down of a Russian Suhkoi-25 jet fighter in the Idlib province of Syria. It is the first time a Russian fighter has been shot down by Syrian rebels attempting to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

The 2017 US military spending bill provided authorization for the Department of Defense to arm the rebels with shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles or ManPADS.

According to the excerpt published Thursday, Bannon informed Ailes that President Donald Trump, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, and their billionaire benefactor Sheldon Adelson are in agreement with moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. Adelson is an American casino mogul who donated $25 million to the Trump campaign and funds Israel’s most popular daily newspaper, Israel Today, which is widely understood to be pro-Netanyahu.

The exchange between Bannon and Ailes adds further confirmation to the Trump administration’s collusion with Israel>>>

(*Bannon had to be on the level . The whole nation knows Muellers talking S**t , and he's been allowed to hang around to attract flies . Who's heard from Steve Bannon lately ?

Why would the US Congress, which supposedly exists to serve the will of the AMERICAN people, be obeying the will of Israel?

Well, maybe because Israel's PACs, including lobbying/spying organization AIPAC, are PAYING THEM TO! (And may have used money looted from American investors by Bernie Madoff to do it!)

You heard me. Members of AIPAC, the organization suspected of spying for Israel, donate vast sums of money to the members of US Congress. And the US Congress has sold our young men and women in uniform to go off and fight and die in wars Israel has created.

(*take into consideration; article written prior to the arrival of Trump 'Genius' in DC)

Clinton vs. Trump: What Israel thinks about the US election
***
The 2016 election follows tense relations between Democratic President Barack Obama and the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel's ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, the rise of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and the Obama administration's handling of sanctions and a nuclear deal with Iran all present challenges to Obama's successor.

Perceptions of who will better protect Israel have so far varied. Sixty-two percent of Israeli Jews said Trump will be "committed to safeguarding Israel's security,">>>
***
Fifty-one percent of respondents to an April survey for Israel's Channel 1 said they felt any of the current U.S. candidates would be better than Obama for Israel>>>

Netanyahu allies claim ‘iron-clad information’ from Arab sources reveals Obama administration drafted document to end settlements, which US abstained from

Israel has escalated its already furious war with the outgoing US administration, claiming that it has “rather hard” evidence that Barack Obama was behind a critical UN security council resolution criticising Israeli settlement building, and threatening to hand over the material to Donald Trump.

>>>

(*Obama was so bad that the Arabs ratted him out to Trump's boss , weeks before the election)

Who in the years, say, 1910 to 1913, could have imagined that the decades of peace, progress, and civilization in which they had grown up, and which seemingly would continue indefinitely, instead would soon descend into a horror of industrial-scale slaughter, revolution, and brutal ideologies?

The answer is, probably very few, just as few people today care much about the details of international and security affairs. Normal folk have better things to do with their lives.

To be sure, in that bygone era of smug jingosim, there was always the entertainment aspect that “our” side had forced “theirs” to back down in some exotic locale, as in the Fashoda incident (1898) or the Moroccan crises (1906, 1911). Even the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 seemed less a harbinger of the cataclysm to come than local dustups on the edge of the continent where the general peace had not been disturbed even by the much more disruptive Crimean or Franco-Prussian wars.

Why the Republicans, armed with enough information to smash the FBI, Obama DOJ, DNC, and presstitute conspiracy, can’t put their act together is a mystery.

The FISA court document, declassified and released, contains confessions from both the FBI and DOJ that the agencies misled the court and falsely acquired surveillance permission.

Why did the FBI and DOJ rush to confess to the FISA court? The reason is that NSA Director Adm. Rodgers discovered their illicit spying, investigated it, and let it be known that he was reporting the FBI and DOJ malfeasence to the FISA court. Adm. Rodgers also informed President Trump.

Much to the surprise of no one, Trump has taken to Twitter to share his views. "This memo totally vindicates "Trump" in probe," the US President tweeted. "But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their (sic) was no Collusion there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!"

The four-page memo, with a cover letter from the White House counsel, claims that the FBI omitted information in its application for a wiretap on Trump advisor Carter Page. It claims this shows FBI political bias against Donald Trump, thus discrediting the ongoing investigation into the president's ties with Russia.

Webmaster's Commentary:

The latest claim is that if someone claims the FBI is falsely accusing them of a crime, then they MUST be guilty!

The Pentagon has outlined how it wants to revamp the US nuclear arsenal, and develop new low-yield bombs, largely in response to the threat from Russia.

While the global stockpile of nuclear weapons has shrunk significantly since the Cold War, there are hundreds of warheads that could be launched at short notice, and experts say every nuclear-armed nation is modernising its arsenal or has plans to do so.

Countries keep most details of their nuclear weapons secret, but it is known that nine countries own the estimated more than 9,000 nuclear weapons that are in military service. These are either deployed - mounted on land or sea missiles and kept at air bases - or in storage. About 1800 are on high alert and could be fired with little warning.

The US and Russia own the vast majority of the world's nuclear weapons.

>>>

(*Sighting the Democrats softer stance is misleading . Seeing the establishments outsider , once again throwing the lever on something none of them would want their own fingerprints on is what should come to mind everytime Trump's posture is compared to Obama's.)

https://www.armscontrol.org/sites/default/files/images/ACT_Photos/2017...
***
What a difference a year makes. Since coming into office, President Donald Trump has quipped about expanding U.S. nuclear capacity and threatened North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.” He has disparaged the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and approved work on a new missile that if tested and built would violate the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia.

Now it appears that a new, Pentagon-led Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) will seek to formally shift U.S. nuclear strategy to align with Trump’s more aggressive nuclear notions.

The Trump Administration’s nuclear plan is increasingly public, with its unclassified summary providing confirmation of all the concerns that have already been set out in recent weeks, that the administration intends the development of new, lower-yield nuclear weapons that they believe would be more usable than the current arsenal.

Though Defense Secretary James Mattis denied that the new weapons would lower the nuclear threshold, the Pentagon’s Nuclear Posture Review says the exact opposite, revealing that they view such weapons as useful in retaliation against non-nuclear attacks or other “extreme circumstances.”

The document tries to justify this as a way to deter Russia, arguing that Russia doesn’t view the current US posture as threatening enough, and that getting the US even more weapons, including smaller-yield ones they might well use more readily, would really intimidate them.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2018 —
The Nuclear Posture Review released today is a strategy to keep America safe with a deterrent that is modern and credible, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan said today in rolling out the strategy.

The NPR reaffirms that the fundamental role of U.S. nuclear policy is deterrence and continues the clear commitment to non-proliferation and arms control, Shanahan said in a Pentagon press briefing.

Shanahan was joined at the event by Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas A. Shannon Jr.

The review took a whole-of-government approach that involved the Departments of Defense, State and Energy, he said. The effort began in January 2017, when President Donald J. Trump directed the review to ensure a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent.

The latest policy was revealed on Friday in a Pentagon policy statement known as the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), presstv reported.

The new policy, which came largely to counter Russia, effectively ends Obama-era efforts to reduce the size and scope of the US arsenal and minimize the role of nuclear weapons in defense planning.

It also cast China as a potential nuclear adversary, saying the US arsenal is tailored to “prevent Beijing from mistakenly concluding” that it could gain advantage by using its nuclear weapons in Asia, or that “any use of nuclear weapons, however limited, is acceptable.”

the report drew blistering criticism from arms control groups, who said the strategy will reduce US and global security.

“President Trump is embarking on a reckless path — one that will reduce US security both now and in the longer term,” senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists Lisbeth Gronlund stressed.

She said the Trump administration is blurring the line between nuclear and conventional war-fighting.>>>

The FISA MEMO was released by the White House today. Completely unredacted. The fight to keep this memo out of the public eye has been intense. And since it’s existence was made known it has clarified our domestic politics in a way that few objects ever have.

They knew the dossier on Trump, compiled by Michael Steele, was unverifiable. They hid its origin and motivation from the court. The information from this warrant and the details of the dossier were used to move public opinion and Congress into supporting Robert Mueller’s investigation.

But, to what end?

To disgrace and force from office the President of the United States. Thus, these people, and the leadership of the Democratic Party, President Obama himself and Hillary Clinton’s staff all conspired to criminally disenfranchise more than 60 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump.

A US missile defense test carried out in Hawaii was unsuccessful, according to officials.
A SM-3 Block IIA missile was launched from an Aegis Ashore test site in Hawaii, but failed to shoot down an incoming dummy missile launched from an aircraft, an official told Reuters. CNN also reported on the failure, ?iting several administration officials.

The missile is developed by the Raytheon Co and is used to target intermediate range missiles. It’s being worked on jointly with Japan.
***
The Pentagon has not publicly acknowledged the failure>>>
***
North Korea, meanwhile, has ramped up its missile test launches. In September, it carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test yet.

During his first State of the Union address Wednesday, president Donald Trump said Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile program could “very soon” pose an acute danger to the US.

Special guest Robert Steele joins me to discuss: pedo takedown, Trump, Israel, false flag in Hawaii, rise in censorship, emerging police state, the question of Jerusalem, FISAMEMO, democratic play in 2020, culture of death we live in, next false flag is?, message of Fatima and MUCH more!

Pentagon officials are set to release the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) on Friday, a document which will set forth the Trump Administration's nuclear strategy and rationale for modernizing US sea, air and land-based strategic nuclear forces, also known as the Nuclear TRIAD.

On Thursday, during a briefing to reporters, chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said the Trump Administration's nuclear strategy "requires an investment in a credible nuclear deterrent with diverse capabilities [and] it will confirm the importance of the nuclear triad."

Earlier, US President Donald Trump has pledged to modernize the US nuclear arsenal to take a stronger stance against rivals like China and Russia.

"As part of our defense, we must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal, hopefully never having to use it, but making it so strong and powerful that it will deter any acts of aggression by any other nation or anyone else," Trump said in his first State of the Union address on Tuesday.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley on Wednesday slammed a UN report on 206 companies with ties to Israeli settlements as "a waste of time and resources" that showed an "anti-Israeli obsession."

The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights released the report that did not name the companies but could pave the way to a "blacklist" of businesses that Israeli officials fear would be targeted for an international boycott.

It’s time to pull up our big boy pants and face the facts: The Democratic party is NOT a suitable vehicle for the progressive agenda.

The Dems are a party without a leader and without a message. They keep carping about Russia and Trump because they have no convictions, no beliefs, and no fire in the belly. It’s a party of empty suits and phony flannel-mouth politicos. The only thing they’re good at is losing, which is an art they appear to have perfected.

The problem is, that the rest of us are sick of the party’s sad-sack song-and-dance, sick of the excuses, sick of the buck passing, and sick of losing. We want candidates who actually stand for something, who actually believe in something, and who’ll actually fight for something.

Treasury Dept. has issued a list of some 200 Russians for sanctions, which could impact the whole Russian economy and further exacerbate U.S.-Russian tensions

January 29 had been seen as a kind of “D-Day” in Russia, with anticipation and apprehension building for weeks over what many Russians believed could mark a critical change for the worse in relations with the United States. Russian media pitched their coverage to the country’s elites, who were under the Sword of Damocles of new U.S. sanctions that might be directed against them, but also to the general Russian public, who have watched with uneasiness, concerned over the effects of sanctions on the economy, on their livelihoods and living standards.

>>>

(*REMEMBER: An expanded Pentagon budget , and Our Tax Break have to come from somewhere !)

US troops arrived in Israel to take part in a major joint military exercise with Israeli forces - as tensions with the Lebanese Hezbollah Movement move from a simmer to a boil.
US forces have arrived in Israel to take part in Juniper Cobra, a biennial major military exercise, Sputnik reported.

In the last Juniper Cobra in 2016, more than 3,000 US troops took part, according to a report by Jerusalem Online.

The exercise will imitate a massive simultaneous missile attack on Israel from Southern and Northern fronts, according to Channel 10 News Agency.

This year, the exercise comes amid escalating tensions with Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which threatened to fire missiles at Israel if it doesn't stop building a wall on its Lebanese border.

In his first State of the Union address, US President Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday night to limit foreign aid to countries that align with his administration’s positions and support his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

While referring to the United Nations vote in December, in which the world body voted overwhelmingly (128-9) to reject the president’s unilateral move, Trump upped the rhetoric with a call for legislation that would withhold monetary support for countries that voted against the United States.

Trump also referenced the 2015 Iran nuclear deal
***
Dr. Martin Sherman, Director of the Israel Institute “Trump’s speech has injected a huge dose of truth, starting with Jerusalem. Withholding aid places pressure on UNWRA to change, and exposes the lie of perpetual Palestinian refugees. President Obama’s speeches gave his outdated anti-colonialist viewpoint. Trump dispensed with that and instead expressed an unapologetic, Judeo Christian perspective. We should welcome the change and seize opportunities being provided.

Regarding Iran, I think Trump is still under pressure from State Department bureaucrats countering his own natural instincts. His patience will eventually run and then he will toss the Iranian nuclear deal.”

Israel has relatively frequent moments of stepping up war rhetoric, and these days that is aimed squarely at Lebanon, with officials openly threatening to force all of Beirut into bomb shelters and bragging about the impact the war will have on the Lebanese civilian population.

It’s less a question of Israel needing to attack Lebanon than them wanting to attack Lebanon, with analysts openly calling it a “war of choice.” Israel’s far-right government considers war with everyone and everything inevitable, and argues at times like this that a war now is preferable to a war later.

It’s not clear the US is totally on board with this, however, with US officials playing up their intention to keep supporting the Lebanese military, even as Israel vows to destroy it. This is an unusual public dispute.

US President Donald Trump named China as a major US competitor on both economic and military fronts in his first state-of-the-union address, another sign that Washington is putting great power rivalry at the heart of its national strategy.

In what can only be described as a truly shocking moment in American history, multiple high-profile Democratic politicians and media figures reacted in horror over the fact that America was promoted during parts of President Trump’s State of the Union address.

That’s right, liberal politicians and their media puppets were actually angry that parts of the speech included the idea of putting American citizens, of all races, ahead of the needs of other countries.

Shockingly, some even took their “anger” further, with one leading Democratic voice actually standing up and leaving after chants of USA filled the room. Or, in other words, a politician elected to represent Americans hates the idea of the United States so much that he couldn’t even stand hearing it shouted.

US President Donald Trump's decision to reject talks with the Taliban will only trigger more attacks and will only aggravate the war, a former Taliban member has said.

Following a string of deadly assaults in the capital, Kabul, this month, Trump on Monday announced that Washington was not going to hold talks with the Taliban, which has been leading an armed rebellion since it was overthrown from power by US-led forces in 2001.

Responding to Trump's decision, the Taliban said war would "increase the human and financial losses of American troops".
***
We know that the Taliban will be fighting as they have been for the past decades, so what is important now is to listen more,...">>>

(*I've got news for you; If your name isn't Benyamin Netanyahu , your going to be hard pressed to get him to lend you his ear !)

***
The US corporate-state is an imperial system comprised of and dependent upon multiple public-relations illusions, hardly none more accepted than the frequent claim that Israel controls US foreign policy. Proponents of this claim include, among others, Grant F. Smith of the Institute for Middle Eastern Policy and more generally the BDS movement (boycott, divest, and sanction), two which apply attention to AIPAC ascribing to AIPAC the power to control the USA Congress. [1]

The Israel-controls-the-US argument asserts that manipulation of the US Congress is achieved by the force of rhetoric, controlling US media, and through lobbying monies funneled through AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, pro-Israel lobbyists in Washington who work to strengthen ties between the two countries in support of Israel). We entertain the question, does Israel control US Middle East policy? The illusion of Israeli political power is promoted by most of the actors who present this stage show to us such as members of Congress, the White House and its cabinet members, department heads, and the Israeli government itself from the top down — the Prime Minister, President, and members of the Knesset. Not only do mainstream media journalists pander to and spread this myth, but also many of our best investigative journalists in alternative media never question this claim.>>>

Throughout the crowd were carefully spaced uniformed military, in every shot, covering for Trump’s own history of cowardice and evasion.

Let’s start with the worst of it, his claim of beating ISIS. We know, and we really know, that Trump takes orders from Israel. They ran the ISIS HQ in Raqqah and there was no battle there, though Donald managed to parade a hero for the crowd.
***
Now we are going to take a second or two to talk about how Trump fixed the VA. What was being fixed by General Shenseki, who was forced out during Obama’s presidency by GOP hacks trying to cut VA funding, has gotten much worse under Trump.
***(*good time to mention article from V.T. and that they source first hand experiences)
Keeping it short, Trump wants to reopen Gitmo? This is in a country where police murder thousands each year?

A nation that has troops in 80 nations?

A nation caught running biowarfare facilities and using poison gas time and time again despite suppression by “fake Google” and their “fake press” friends.

US President Donald Trump used his first State of the Union address on Tuesday to describe countries which voted against his move to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as "enemies of America".

Scores of Palestinian activists yesterday called for the US security office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah to be closed in protest against America’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Arabi21 reported.

During their action, the activists raised placards condemning the US’ stance towards the Palestinian cause. Placards included: “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine” and “No to the US dollar.. No to American policies,” Middle East Monitor reported.

Activist Isam Abu-Baker said: “We came here to tell the Americans: your existence in Palestine is unwanted and you are not welcome.”

He added: “All the political, economic and security offices of the US administration in the State of Palestine have to close.”

The Trump administration has drawn Turkey deeper into the Syrian conflict by announcing a policy that threatens Turkey’s national security. Washington’s gaffe has pitted one NATO ally against the other while undermining hopes for a speedy end to the seven year-long war.

Here’s what’s going on: On January 18, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced the creation of a 30,000-man Border Security Force (BSF) to occupy East Syria. Two days later, January 20, the Turkish Army launched a ground and air offensive against Kurdish troops in the Afrin canton in Northwest Syria.

The media has tried to downplay the connection between the two events, but the cause-and-effect relationship is pretty clear. Tillerson’s provocation triggered the Turkish invasion and another bloody phase to the needlessly-protracted conflict. Washington’s screwup has made a bad situation even worse.

After launching its Olive Branch operation in Syria's Afrin, the Turkish authorities said that the operation was likely to expand towards the neighboring city of Manbij, where the US has some 2,000 of its military personnel deployed.

Pulling US forces from Manbij is "not something we are looking into", US Central Command chief General Joseph Votel said Monday.

Earlier this month, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara will not limit its precautionary measures against Kurdish fighters to Syria's Afrin district but could move to Manbij, also in Aleppo province.

President Donald Trump skipped that box in his first official State of the Union address. He did not once utter the words "debt" or "entitlement." The only mention of "deficit" came in reference to America's supposed "infrastructure deficit"—in other words, it came in a call for even more government spending. Trump did reference the "sequester," a colloquial name for the 2013 budget act instituting limited cuts in discretionary spending, but only long enough to call it "dangerous" and to ask for Congress to repeal it so more tax money can be shoveled into the Pentagon.

The numbers are in, and Democrats aren’t going to be happy about this.

A majority of Americans approved of President Trump’s very first State of the Union speech. In fact, the numbers are unequivocal: it was a smashing success! Take a look at this CBS poll conducted last night:

The Kremlin said Monday that a soon-to-be-released report by the U.S. Treasury Department — one that could lead to sanctions against Putin-linked oligarchs — is a “direct and obvious” attempt by the U.S. government to meddle in Russia’s upcoming presidential election.

Turkish allegations of Saudi, Emirati and Egyptian support for the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) threatens to turn Turkey’s military offensive against Syrian Kurds aligned with the PKK into a regional imbroglio. The threat is magnified by Iranian assertions that low-intensity warfare is heating up in areas of the Islamic republic populated by ethnic minorities, including the Kurds in the northwest and the Baloch on the border with Pakistan.

Taken together, the two developments raise the specter of a potentially debilitating escalation of the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran as well as an aggravation of the eight-month-old Gulf crisis that has pitted Saudi Arabia and its allies against Qatar, the latter which has forged close ties to Turkey.

US no “peace broker” in Palestine; Trump cannot destroy a “peace process” that doesn’t exist.

Trump’s call to enshrine Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by relocating the U.S. embassy there has evoked a chorus of denunciations — coming both from true outrage and as lip service. The main claim is that the president has wrecked the peace process. However, although his anti-Palestinian action deserves condemnation, Trump cannot destroy a “peace process” that doesn’t exist.

The state of Israel was founded in 1948 by Zionists — promoters of an exclusively Jewish nation — after the UN partition of Palestine the year before.>>>

Adult film star Stormy Daniels, in the midst of a publicity tour fuelled by past allegations of a 2006 sexual relationship with a then-married Donald Trump, said in a statement the alleged affair never occurred.

A lawyer for Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, confirmed the statement was authentic but didn't offer any further details.

The statement comes at a curious time for Clifford, who is scheduled to appear following the president's State of the Union address on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

The Pentagon has no choice but to hide the reality on the ground in Afghanistan, if Americans are exposed to the real situation, there will pressure for the US to withdraw, Middle East analyst Ali Rizk said.

The Pentagon has apparently instructed the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a watchdog which oversees the situation in the country, to keep quiet over the information on the mass of territory controlled or influenced by the Taliban and Afghan government, according to the watchdog's latest report.

The Pentagon blamed “human error in labeling” for the failure to share the data.

“It was NOT the intent of Resolute Support to withhold or classify information which was available in prior reports,” Navy Captain Tom Gresback, a spokesman for the US-led NATO coalition>>>

Gaza Strip — Palestinians are still waiting to realize benefits from the reconciliation between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-led government in the West Bank. They've been waiting since October, and some Gaza residents are quickly running out of time.

Unemployment rates remain high in the Gaza Strip, sewer networks are deteriorating and power cuts have become crippling under a decadelong blockade by Israel. Deadly house fires have occurred repeatedly as citizens resort to using candles to light their homes. And that's not the only lethal consequence of the power cuts.

The protesters marked Ahed Tamimi's 17th birthday and her upcoming military trial in Israel, saying she was only protecting her family and her land. Pro-Israelis also at the protest said Tamimi's arrest was justified.

A rally has been held at a train station in New York's Penn Station to demand the release of Ahed Tamimi, the young Palestinian activist detained by Israel, TRT World reported.

The 17-year-old has become a symbol for the Palestinian cause after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier went viral.>>>

US sanctions against Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors are intended to reduce Moscow’s profit from deals with other countries, a senior US Department of State official said.
"The ultimate goal [of Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act's Section 231] <…> is to stop important revenue from going - from flowing into the Russian Government," the official said, TASS reported.

However, he did not specify the exact number of the deals that were deterred and possible countries where those deals were deterred.

"The results of our engagement and our demarches globally, we have been able to turn off potential deals that equal several billion dollars. And that is real success, it’s real money, and it’s real revenue that is not going to the Kremlin and is not going to Russia," the official said.

The blockaded Gaza Strip is "far beyond humanitarian crises", Nickolay Mladenov, UN special envoy for the Middle East peace process, has warned.
***"Returning Gaza to legitimate Palestinian control [i.e., the PA rather than Hamas] and ending all the militant activity there is critical," the UN envoy said.

He added: "This is critical to Israel's security, Egypt's security, the people of Gaza, and the Palestinians in general".

"We must work with the PA and help them develop a plan as to how they are going to return to Gaza," Mladenov said.

Otherwise, the envoy warned, Gaza risks "blowing up in our faces again -- this time in a far more violent and deadly manner than in the past".

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said on Tuesday an estimated 60,000 children face potential starvation in North Korea, where international sanctions are exacerbating the situation by slowing aid deliveries.

(*in the interest of America First the question is forced; What Korean delicacies can be exported exclusively to The US as a result of the US imposed sanctions on N Korea ?)

Not being put on Washington’s ‘Kremlin List’ is reason enough for a cabinet member to step down, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said jokingly while talking to reporters after meeting with his Belgian counterpart Charles Michel.

I agree some provision should be made for “Dreamers” to achieve legal status (not citizenship), but border security must be part of the deal so this doesn’t keep happening.

And someone needs to explain why Democrats are willing to shut down government services to American citizens (who voted them into office) to provide benefits to illegal immigrants.

Good heavens, civil and charitable Americans do not want to corral Dreamers into concentration camps or starve anyone because they circumvented the existing process for entry into our country and/or eventually applying for citizenship. After all, the American Dream has been available to those who accept the principles of our English language culture and heritage.

Sochi, not Geneva, is the forum where the endgame for the Syrian proxy war will be decided.

President Tayyip Erdogan’s ‘Olive Branch’ operation appears to have support at home and in Moscow, but failure would spell problems.

Olive Branch” is the Orwellian-named Turkish invasion of a chunk of Syria. The operation comes as no surprise. President Tayyip Erdogan had hinted for nearly a year that a move was likely in the Syrian Kurdish canton of Afrin.

Amid growing Taliban influence and brazen Daesh attacks on the Afghan capital, US forces in Afghanistan have faced a 35% jump in casualties over the past year. Speaking to Sputnik, national security analyst Joseph Fitsanakis outlined the problems faced by the US-led coalition, and explained what it would take for peace to return to the country.
***
President Trump has increased the number of US troops in Afghanistan from about 8,000 or so to 14,000 there currently, and he's said that he wants to send another 1,000. Having said that, let's remember that in 2010, the US had in Afghanistan about 100,000 troops, and this was not enough >>>